Jeremiah Smith House
Exeter, Rockingham County, New Hampshire
Marker Inscription
Jeremiah Smith House / Judge & Governor of New Hampshire / c. 1730
Erected by Exeter Historic District Commission
The Story
Standing in Exeter since about 1730, this handsome frame house is remembered as the home of Jeremiah Smith, one of early New Hampshire's most accomplished public men. A veteran of the Revolutionary War who reportedly marched to the Battle of Bennington, Smith went on to serve in Congress, sit as chief justice of the state's highest court, and win election as governor in the young republic's early years. His career spanned the generation that turned a cluster of former colonies into a working state government, with Exeter — a onetime Revolutionary-era capital of New Hampshire — as his home ground.
Why it matters
Houses like this one anchor the story of how ordinary New England towns produced the judges, legislators, and governors who built American self-government from the ground up in the decades after independence.
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Related people
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